This presentation is about a century-old community of freeborn landowners and their contributions in and after the Civil War. A year after the Confederates seized a mixed race, married mother of three and used her as a lure, her Winton Triangle community responded by enlisting in the Union military. Over seventy of North Carolina’s Winton Triangle men fought in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. They took part in the destruction of Charleston, captured what was to become Gen. Grant’s ultimate headquarters, took part in the eleven-month siege on Richmond and its capture; and finally enforced the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas after the war’s end (Juneteenth).

Families of soldiers helped make up of the regiments of infantry, cavalry and heavy artillery. Families such as the Weavers, Robbins and Reynolds could each boast seven and more soldiers.

Most returned to the area to own farms, start or renew family life, establish schools, educate the formerly enslaved, form churches and other organizations, take part in politics, open businesses and expand the size of the Winton Triangle. This presentation, highlighting the research of the soldiers’ pension records, their family records and photographs, is used to teach today’s Winton Triangle people of their own Civil War past.

Rock Park Civil War Roundtable talks are usually followed by lunch at Ledo Pizza, 7435 Georgia Avenue NW.

Marvin T. Jones presents photographs, maps and narrative of his community’s 275 year-old history of landowning mixed-race people in North Carolina’s Hertford County area. The written history of the Winton Triangle began in 1584 when the English first learned about the area. The three main towns of the Triangle are Winton, Cofield and Ahoskie. The Winton Triangle’s story is that of a new people who cobbled success and identity despite colonization, wars, slavery and discrimination. Jones uses maps, documents and photographs to tell this 400+ year old story. This presentation has been given many times in North Carolina and as far as Arizona.

Bertie County’s Dr. Arwin D. Smallwood, North Carolina A&T University: “Documenting and Exploring the Early History of Mixed Race Peoples: Over Five Hundred Years of the Merging of Native American, African, and European Peoples in North America from the 1500s to the present”.

Panel is moderator by author Margo Lee Williams. The panel’s time and location is 1pm, March 3 at Banneker B, University of Maryland Adele H. Stamp Student Union, 3972 Campus Drive, College Park, MD, 20742.

This presentation was well-received at the 2017 Black History Conference of the Afro American Genealogical and Historical Society chapters of Washington, D. C. and Maryland. Marvin T. Jones will tell the stories about how African Americans gained literacy and skills against all odds and how school records are aids to genealogical research. He will also show how those starting from illiteracy rose to great heights. Among notable people in the presentation are Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Myrilla Miner and Julius Rosenwald. Among the Winton Triangle examples included in Jones’ speech are Winton Librarian Katie M. Hart,Pleasant Plains School and Calvin Scott Brown School.

Marvin T. Jones presents photographs, maps and narrative of his community’s 275 year-old history of landowning mixed-race people in North Carolina’s Hertford County area. The written history of the Winton Triangle begin in 1584 when the English first learn about the area. The three main towns of the Triangle are Winton, Cofield and Ahoskie. The Winton Triangle’s story is that of a new people who cobbled success and identity despite colonization, wars, slavery and discrimination. Jones uses maps, documents and photographs to tell this 400+ year old story. This presentation has been given many times in North Carolina – of course – in Virginia, Maryland, Chicago, Tennesee, New York, West Virginia, and is now going across the Rockies.

Marvin T. Jones is the keynote speaker at the 2017 Black History Month Genealogy Conference (BHM) hosted by the State of Maryland and Washington DC chapters of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc. (AAHGS) and the African- American Special Interest Group, Washington DC Family History Center. The conference is scheduled for Saturday February 4, 2017 from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM at the Laurel Family History Center. The theme for the 2017 conference is “From the Archives to the Classroom with African-American Genealogy: The Crucial Role of Education in the History of African Americans.” Among the topics of Jones’ speech are Winton Librarian Katie M. Hart, Pleasant Plains School and C.S. Brown School.

This is a free conference where people can learn about advances in genealogy. After January 6, please register at aaghs-conf2017@wdcfhc.org

The AAHGS State of Maryland and Washington DC Chapters along with the African American Special Interest Group at the Washington DC Family History Center are able to provide opportunities for researchers to come together for education and training from family history research basics to breaking brick walls, as we embrace the role of education in the history of African Americans.